Tiwanaku – Bolivia Tourist Attraction

The ruins of Tiwanaku (also known as Tiahuanaco), one of the oldest civilizations in the world, is located in La Paz, Bolivia. It was also the capital of a powerful Pre-Columbian Empire, and according to scientists, may have been inhabited as early as 1500 BC and collapse around 1200 AD. Legend has it the “Gate of the sun” is actually a portal to another dimension and anyone who walks through this gate will disappear forever. For those of you who don’t believe in legends, would you be brave enough to walk through this gate?

Tiwanaku,“The Gate of the Sun”

Tiwanaku “The Gate of the Sun” – Photo by Mhwater

Located in Western Bolivia, with the height of 13,000 feet, sits this ancient and majestic city. It was the capital of an empire, which extended into Chile and Peru, thriving from 300 to 1000 AD plus, it is considered to be one of the most significant cities during the ancient America. Some legends in Andean culture declare that the area around Lake Titicaca was once the crib to the first human beings on the planet.

History

This city is one of the significant Pre-Columbian archeological sites situated in Western Bolivia. Its known by the Andean Scholars as being one of the most significant precursors within the Inca Empire, thriving as the administrative capital of the main state for around 500 hundred years. In addition, the ruins of the ancient city/state are nearby the southeastern coast of Lake Titicaca, La Paz Department, Ingavi Province, and Tiahuanaco Municipality 72 kilometers west of La Paz.

The ruin was initially recorder and published in history by the Spanish conquistador named Pedro Cieza de Leon that stumbled into the remains of the Tiahuanaco by 1549 at the same time he was looking for the capita of Inca. Few people believe that the modern name of the site is connected to the Aymara term “taypiqala” that refers to “stone in the center”, however the original name by what Tiwanaku was famous for has vanished, as the local people had no written language. Today, Tiahuanaco has a height of about 800 feet on top of the level of Lake Titicaca, for this reason the majority of archeologist believe that this area was once a port. They have discovered structures at Lake Titicaca that demonstrate that the sea levels have already changed considerably all the way through history. Still, they do not know the exact age of the ruins. Some studies say that they are around 14,000 years BC. They found one ruin that is still lying in Tiwanaku as known as the “Gate of the Sun”. This “Gate of the Sun” is around 3 meters tall and is carved out of a single block of stone.

The Mystery behind the Ruin

When you see the ruin, the figures that embellish the stone are said to possess astronomical connotations at the same time it resemble a human-like being with curled-up tails and wings, and they seem to be wearing helmets in rectangular forms, although some interpretations differ. The ‘Sun-God’ is in the center and wears the sun as a crown.

He is also clasping thunderbolts both hands. The figure of ‘Sun-God is also called the ‘Weeping God’ because of the tears that are carved on to his face, this tears represent rain. Some people think that the gate was utilized as a calendar, leading to some to call it the ‘Calendar Gate’, which appears to show a solar year, but it couldn’t have been created to fit to the solar year, since the calendar includes 290 days that are divided into 12 months having 24 days each. Other radical theories claim that the “Gate of the sun” was a kind of portal to the other dimension, probably to the “Land of Gods”.